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[ral]

I'm trying to think of a way to, if I embark with most of the map on an ocean or lake, to build an underwater base from the bottom up. I know I could dig out a big pit on dry land, build a building inside it, seal it off with windows and such, then flood the pit but I'm trying to think of some way to build on the ocean floor from the bottom up, or from the top down if it's possible to build walls and pump the water out or something....

Anyone know of a way to do this?

[Bererez]

lots of magma?

[ral]

So build a magmaduct over the ocean so that it dumps into the middle creating a big pile of obsidian at the bottom? But then how do I get windows?

[damug]

So build a magmaduct over the ocean so that it dumps into the middle creating a big pile of obsidian at the bottom? But then how do I get windows?

Use fortifications for underwater windows, obviously.

[Sphalerite]

Punch a hole in the bottom of the ocean, connected to an aquifer through a gated passage.  The ocean will instantly drain.  You can then build your seafloor construction, before sealing the passage to let the ocean refill.

[Girlinhat]

The preferred method of ocean construction is to first drain the ocean.  This can be done with an aquifer or with a cavern, as you can drain the water into the cavern and off the edges of the map.  Once dry, build a hatch over the hole, build your base, and then whenever desired, drain again and expand your fort onto the now-dry ground.

Be aware that a tantruming dwarf or a building destroyer will destroy a window, this leads to much Fun.  Do it.  For great justice.

[Nekudotayim]

Name a dwarf Moses  Had to say that.

[Segnaro]

Drain the ocean so you can build an Atlantic dwarf civilization.

I likes.

[ral]

Won't the map edges of the ocean produce endless water like a river or do they produce water very slowly?

How wide of a drainage tunnel should I need to drain the ocean in reasonable time? I should also just be able to drain down one level and drain into fortifications carved into the stone on the edge of the map right?

(Apparently you can carve fortifications into the stone on the edge of the map which you normally can't mine, and water will flow out through them. I tried to drain some underground lakes this way but I couldn't get them any shallower than 3/7 or so, even with 10 or so fortification tiles...)

[Nekudotayim]

I would stick to the magma method. build a magma pump one level above the beginning of the ocean. Wait for the obsidian to appear. Build a bridge over the ocean like that. At some point, it will need to get some foundation. Therefore dig a 3x3 channel into the bridge, let magma fill it, dig out the obsidian, fill it again... continue until you built a shaft down to the bottom of the ocean at this point. Close the top of this foundation and continue to build the bridge over the ocean until you hit the desired spot. Now do the same like described for the foundations of the bridge but much larger.

Not sure if this will work. Maybe..

[ZetaX]

So build a magmaduct over the ocean so that it dumps into the middle creating a big pile of obsidian at the bottom? But then how do I get windows?

Use fortifications for underwater windows, obviously.

In other words: suicide.

[Xyon]

One thing I can think of would be building stuff above the water, and then cutting it off and letting it drop down into the water.

[Girlinhat]

This almost works, except that a constructed thing will deconstruct, and anything that has something caved-in on it is destroyed.  So, if you tried to drop an intact fort, you'd end up with the roof's material laying on the ocean floor and nothing else.  If you cast obsidian, you could drop one layer at a time, but then getting down to it would be an issue, especially if you wanted to remove the exit entirely for a totally submerged city.  You cannot drop built furniture, but you can drop loose furniture, in case you wanted to make a floor, drop some beds, then build the rest of the undersea fort.  I'm unsure how supports work with cave-ins, though I assume they don't.  For instance:

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Side View:
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_W_when dropped, would probably result in:

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WWWso building a roof via cave-in is likely impossible.

[ral]

I tried to drop a constructed wall into a river a few times to dam it up and it always just deconstructed into individual stones, leaving piles of stone on the bottom of the river. I'm assuming that if I were to build something supported by a floor walkway, for example (as I did with the wall above the river) that the whole thing is going to be reduced to piles of inaccessible individual stones on the ocean floor when the walkway is cut...

Yes, I know fortifications pass water and even let creatures through when the water is above some depth. I'm not that much of a noob.

[Urist Da Vinci]

side view:

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1. Pour magma into the ocean to build retaining walls out of cast obsidian.
2. Drain the water from the central area.
3. Build a city, however you like.
4. Dig a chasm under the retaining walls, equal in height.
5. Collapse walls from above the ocean to puncture the sea floor around the walls.
6. The retaining walls collapse into the sea floor, and your sea-bottom fort is now flooded, with no visible walls.

Back in 40d, I used this trick to make a expy of Rapture from Bioshock. Basically a sea-floor art deco fort with economy on, nobles murdered, and heavily armored spear-wielding guards. The fort eventually died during a tantrum spiral, where the guards were busy killing everyone for not meeting the mayor's demands and windows were broken during tantrums, letting in the ocean.